By Pierre-Andréa Fraile | Sports journalist
Both members of the West Team beaten this Sunday, LeBron James and Anthony Davis did not escape the heated debate concerning the decline of the All-Star Game. They therefore agreed to discuss this hot topic in turn.
With 36 minutes of cumulative playing time, they certainly did not have to draw on their resources during this meeting. LeBron James et Anthony Davis were in fact used in a restricted manner by Chris Finch and therefore could not really avoid the heavy defeat suffered by the Western Conference (186-211). In any case, it’s not as if this result really mattered to them, regardless of the fans.
LeBron and Davis justify the lack of intensity of the All-Star Game
Following the offensive festival offered by the 24 All-Stars present in Indianapolis, the NBA community generally came together to criticize this spectacle. The lack of involvement of some thus exasperated observers, for whom this gala meeting truly lost its interest. A global opinion, or almost, that was partly shared by LeBron, who nevertheless sought to clear his peers at the same time:
LeBron James : I think this is a problem that needs to be resolved. Obviously, from the players’ point of view, this kind of match is nice. But ultimately, our nature as competitors does not correspond to such an orgy of scoring. Afterwards, one of the positive things to come out of all this was that no player was injured and that everyone came out of the match as they started it.
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Once is not usual, the injury argument resurfaced in this heated discussion which nevertheless deserves to exist according to LBJ. However, it was never used by their predecessors, and certainly not by a Larry Bird who openly expected better from this part. Despite everything, Davis also used it to justify this cautious posture adopted by current stars:
Obviously the fans, the league and everyone wants it to be competitive but at the same time, as players, we think about not wanting to get hurt. Sure, injuries are part of the game, but no one wants to get hurt at the All-Star Game.
Particularly fragile, the Unibrow therefore easily admits to favoring the regular season and its objectives with the Lakers rather than the ASG, even if it means that it turns into a parody of basketball:
All these guys are very important to their teams. Suddenly, we are between two waters. We’d like it to be competitive and not just a series of highlights, but at the same time, do you really want to see someone go up for a dunk, an opponent try to contest it and see something terrible happen to the All- Star Game when it could have been avoided?
For LeBron James as for Anthony Davis, the intensity desired by fans during the All-Star Game could put the health of the players at risk. Not sure that this argument will be enough to appease the feeling of anger currently reigning in the league.
2024-02-20 10:54:43
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